Humble Games devs told "company is shutting down"
UPDATE: Humble Games claims it is restructuring, but affected staff dispute company statement
Update, July 25, 2024: Former Humble staff have disputed the company's statement regarding the restructuring, claiming it underplays the impact on the team.
An anonymous staff member impacted by the layoffs told GamesIndustry.biz the statement is "patently incorrect," emphasising that all Humble Games staff were laid off this week.
Operations are said to be moving to a third-party consultancy The Powell Group, which will handle all remaining games. In a transcript of a meeting with Steve Horowitz, president of Ziff Davis's shopping and technology division, it was suggested affected staff may be offered opportunities elsewhere within Ziff Davis or at The Powell Group.
Aftermath has received similar reports, with a former Humble Games employee telling the site that the restructuring claim is "to save face, but that's a lie."
The site also cites Chris Radley, a former Humble Games employees who left in 2022, who posted on LinkedIn that "this is NOT a restructuring of operations" but a "total shutdown of Humble Games" with no internal staff remaining.
GamesIndustry.biz reached out for more information, but was Humble Games and Ziff Davis "are not commenting further on the restructure at this time."
Update, 8.59pm: Humble Games has confirmed whilst it is undergoing restructuring, the company is "not shutting down" and "upcoming releases are not affected."
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Humble Games said:
"In these challenging economic times for indie game publishing, Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations. This decision was not made lightly; it involved much deliberation and careful thought, with the goal of ensuring the stability and support of our developers and ongoing projects. Additionally, the restructuring of operations at Humble Games will have no impact on operations at Humble Bundle.
"We are acutely aware of the profound impact this decision has on our team members at Humble Games and deeply empathize with everyone affected. Our team's contributions have been world-class and invaluable, supporting the launch of our games since we started publishing in 2017. We are committed to navigating this transition with as much empathy and understanding as possible.
"Supporting our development partners and assisting former team members remains our top priority. We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved. Thank you for your support and compassion during this challenging period. It is deeply appreciated."
Original story: Humble Games is reportedly "shutting down".
According to former Humble developers, all 36 employees were seemingly laid off without notice this morning and told the company was closing.
Humble Games is owned by Ziff Davis, which also owns GamesIndustry.biz parent Gamer Network.
Whilst there's been no formal word from Humble Games about the decision to close, its social media channels like X/Twitter were active this morning, responding to player questions and queries about its latest release, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus.
"At 9AM this morning, 36 employees of Humble Games were told that we were being let go and that the company is shutting down," explained former BizDev exec Niki Kwan, who wrote about what happened on LinkedIn.
"The game industry is volatile, it's been inundated by people who only want exponential growth at the expense of making great games with great teams," added former 2D artist, Emilee Kieffer.
"Billionaires and CEOs are making record profits at the expense of the employees who actually create the products. But I believe we have the power to create studios that benefit us as game developers and not people that only see us as money printing machines," Kieffer added.